To think that adults should cycle on the road

[LoopyLou1981]

It’s been a long time since I’ve been organised enough to get up (and get 2 kids up) and out early enough to walk to the station instead of getting the bus.
On a 2 mile walk, I’ve been ‘dinged’ at by 3 cyclists to get me to move over on the pavement so they could get passed.
Is this a new thing?! Our roads aren’t narrow or any more dangerous than any others. AIBU to think they should be on the road?!

Zero excuses for adults cycling on the pavement. If you're too scared to use the roads, then you have no business cycling. It's bloody terrifying when a cyclist comes zooming up behind you, and I'm tall and fit and healthy, not pregnant or elderly or otherwise compromised.

Lazy, selfish, entitled, dangerous buggers. Get on the road!

I'm deaf and my hearing aids don’t really pick up sounds from behind Yes, I read that part, nothing else was mentioned. I too can't hear cyclists coming up from behind, that's why I mentioned about the bells. If someone can't hear then the cyclist just stops or goes on
the grass I find. As you know, people can be startled by something other than a noise.
"I'll live" was in regards to being startled but I'm sure you already know that.

I don't mind people cycling on the pavement. I certainly dont think they're 'pathetic' - but I do mind them ringing their bell at me.

Why do you dislike the bell? I was nearly taken out by a very fast cyclist on a shared path the other evening because I stepped around some broken glass and didn't hear him coming (I'm deaf in one ear). Had he 'dinged' at me I would have stopped.

I don't actually mind cyclists on paths, as long as they are cautious and considerate of pedestrians.

We get lots of people cycling past our house on the pavement. I ignore any dings.
Has anyone mentioned motorists encroaching on marked bunged on the road cycle paths? Another frustration.

I rarely cycle but when I do, it’s on the pavement. I’m clumsy and have a chronic pain issue so if I was in the road I’d probably get hit

Solution is more cycle paths

No, the solution is to think of everyone's safety and not just your own ...

Why do you dislike the bell

Because it sounds imperious. Ding ding ding, I'm more important than you get out of my way because I am on two wheels and you are on two feet.

Cyclists have voices and can say excuse me. That's what I do when I ride.

It's bloody terrifying when a cyclist comes zooming up behind you, and I'm tall and fit and healthy, not pregnant or elderly or otherwise compromised

so the issue isn't cyclists riding on pavements per se, it's riding too fast and not giving way to pedestrians.

And yes, I mentioned drivers parking on cycle paths. And pavements of course. It's time it was made a specific criminal offence.

*Because it sounds imperious. Ding ding ding, I'm more important than you get out of my way because I am on two wheels and you are on two feet.

Cyclists have voices and can say excuse me. That's what I do when I ride.*

Our town has a very good network of shared cycle/pedestrian paths as well as cycle paths adjacent to footpaths. The council has issued a guide to cycling. This clearly recommends that cyclists use bells when approaching behind pedestrians to warn they are coming. It’s not rude or imperious - it just warns pedestrians that you’re approaching from behind and that it’s advisable not to weave around.

I’ve come across rude cyclists, rude motorists (refusing to give way to cyclists when the cyclists have the right of way) and many, many rude pedestrians. One man refused to move off the cycleway and onto the footpath as there were leaves on it. One woman refused to move her prom and toddler off the cycleway and onto the footpath.

The fact is that there are rude, selfish and entitled people wherever you go.

I do use my bell as I’ve had people freak out as I’ve passed them.

Also pedestrians do not walk in straight lines and come sometimes veer into your path.

The original question is moot - it's illegal to ride on the pavement - unless it's a shared cycle lane. In that case a bell ring is fair enough - I often use it to warn a pedestrian I'm about to pass them in case they move (and to me a bell immediately identifies a bike).

Sadly, I cycle to work and feel like I'm the only cyclist who doesn't ride on the pavement and actually stops at red lights.

Oh, and I once told a teenage girl (full size bike, no helmet) that she should be on road when she tried to get past me - her response was that her mum didn't let her ride on the road. Shouldn't have bought her a bike, then.

Odd that. I drive and ride a bike and see many many more drivers' just slipping through' when the lights are VERY CLEARLY on red. Yet it's bikists who drivers complain about doing that.
Weird. You'd think drivers have little self-awareness........

Earlyup what's the helmet thing got to do with it please?

Ooh if I had a pound for every cyclist that has ever killed someone.......I'd be pretty broke.

Right, so you read that a deafperson will be impervious to noises behind them, and unaware of a cyclist behind them and yet you have to ask That's a fact, not an effect.

If cyclists are respectful to pedestrians we can all get along surely. Posters have had some bad experiences including myself, some worse than others.

*doesn't mean the majority of cyclists aren't fine.

MrPan just another irritation creeping through.

How does the helmet wearing, or not, affect your irritation? Do you beleive that cyclists should wear helmets then?
If so, why not car drivers? They suffer more head injuries than cyclists...

So annoying when people do this. The other day I was walking along on a narrow bit of pavement pushing ds in pram. I was over as far as possible to one side and there would have been enough room for another pedestrian to overtake me or to pass in other direction. Woman on bike comes up behind me and starts ringing her bell at me. I kept walking (making sure I was over to one side) and she kept ringing her bell. Literally no idea where she expected me to move to - on one side of the pavement is a very high wall and on the other is the busy road. In the end she huffed, shouted "GOD, rude" at me and cycled into the road (and onto the cycle lane) for a few meters than back onto the pavement. Not sure if there is some sort of ability to teleport myself that I should have used in this instance??

Oh, and I once told a teenage girl (full size bike, no helmet) that she should be on road when she tried to get past me - her response was that her mum didn't let her ride on the road. Shouldn't have bought her a bike, then. Hopefully it didn't put her from going out again. Seeing kids out and about doing something active these days is a rarity

It's illegal for them to ride on the pavement, if they don't want to ride on the road then don't get a bike.

My friend and I were walking along a very narrow path (1 person wide) on a 40mph road in the evening when a cyclist came speeding towards us, we had to jump into the bushes to get out of his way because he was not going to stop. The fucking idiot could have killed us.

*put her off.

Highway Code rule 64: "You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement" (www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82)

If you can bear it, it's worth standing your ground and telling them to get off the pavement. They may swear at you but it might make them think twice about doing it again. I do this, and I also shout at cyclists going through red lights - but then I'm a law abiding cyclist (I also shout at pedestrians who don't wait for the green man or just hang about in the road waiting to cross, which is dangerous and infuriating).